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Britny Stewart
Information Name: Britny Stewart Nickname: Age: 17 DOB: June 3rd Hair Color: Strawberry-Blonde Eye Color: Teal-blue Favorite Color: Purple Favorite Food: N/A Hobbies: Drawing and Painting Career Dream: To have someone to love Worst Fear: Extreme physical pain History Britny is always friendly, and enjoys the company of others, but when it comes to putting others first, it is always her loved ones, never putting her needs or wants in the way of theirs. However, the interesting part from her past is her fear. Ever since she was young she's been prone to wake up with gashes, bruises, and marks on her arms or legs, yet never know where they came from. Sometimes by the looks of some of them they have matched some of her nightmares exactly. In these nightmares, she usually end up tortured or attacked. These in themselves have caused this fear, but then as she grew older, pain became a reminder of these nightmares, and still is to this day. The more pain, the worse the reminder and the more she panics. Recently, she has been going to the psycharitrist due to dreams that were related to the Red Death before news of him came to her. Now, she faces a dilemma when she found out her family was taken by him. Now, wearing her gown, she prepares for the worst and hopes to end this charade once and for all. Victim In Holding: Her parents Dress and Mask Britny's Prologue The nightmares are back.. "I thought they'd stopped years ago, I thought they were gone for good. But now it's all happening just like before.." Nothing will make this any easier for me. Ever since the nightmares I once had as a child had returned I had become paranoid. It was as if something was watching me, waiting in the darkness and eating away at my soul; The fears all returning to me in the time that I should be able to feel at peace. My mother was the first to notice things, according to her, she'd heard me crying in my sleep late through the night. When she had confronted me I couldn't lie to her, but I didn't want to tell her either. Eventually,however she was able to get it out of me. Her first piece of advice was what landed me here in the office of Ms. Alana Sommers, a psychiatrist well known around our part of town. I didn't like the idea of having to tell all of this to a complete stranger. Honestly, I'd have rather just talked with mom, but she insisted. She said that this woman could help it all go away. I hope she's right... "These nightmares.." she begins, moving a piece of her caramel colored locks behind her ear,"..tell me about what happens to you when you are in them..take your time..." Yeah, right, lady. You get paid by the hour, you tell all your patients that kind of thing. But still, I comply, nodding my head slowly and taking a deep breath before speaking once more. "It's different in each one...and yet..they're all the same..I'm bound most times, never able to move freely..and there's always a smell. It's like...medicines and rust.." I pause, swallowing the growing lump of discomfort in my throat and gripping the sides of the chair that I'd been seated in. " It's... dark. Always.... Of course the first thing I do is panic, as anyone would. But then there's a voice from the darkness, telling me 'It will all be fine' and repeating that statement several times before I feel the pain..that's where things are different. What happens next...It's always different each time." "Go on." she nods at me, waving her hand in my direction. Don't rush me, lady... "Once, I felt something digging into my stomach, a terrible sting accompanied with the smell and warm feeling of blood..." "and then...?" I can't see anything, I--I can't see anything! What is he doing!?!? AUGH!! IT HURTS!!! IT HURTS!! MAKE IT STOP!!' MAKE IT STOP'!!!" My vision's gone black as I relive the horrific nightmare. It's the uncertainty of what is happening, who is doing this to me that makes my body shake and my hands move from their place on the arms of the chair to grip the arms of my jacket as hug around myself and heave forward with a cry. I can feel it...I can feel it! " BRITNY!" "..." It isn't a split second and I feel hands on my shoulders and come to my senses. I feel a burning in my face and a stinging in my eyes from the panic. My heart raced as I stared at the woman in front of me. My heavy breathing was all I could hear now. "Shh...shh..it's alright.." she says, not breaking eye contact with me for even a second. I wasn't the only one scared here, this woman was looking at me with a straight face but I could tell exactly what she was thinking. "I'm not crazy.." I tell her, choking on my own words and wiping the tears in my eyes with the sleeve of my jacket. "I'm not.." "You're not..You're not..." she tells me. Lies. She's lying through her teeth right now. I know what she thinks of me.. The woman stood up slowly with a heavy sigh and closed eyes before turning her head to the window beside us. "Look, I think this was enough for today...I'll have Lisa get you some water and we'll schedule your next.." "Miss Sommers!!!" Lisa, her secretary, had barged into the room with wide eyes and a look of shock on her aged features. Her large frame almost took up the doorway completely. One hand was gripping the doorknob as if she were holding on for dear life, the same grip being placed onto the clipboard in her other hand. "M-Miss Sommers...It's the killer..the Red Death! He's killed again!" The woman was hysterical! "Lisa, why are you telling me--" "It was Abby..." she was crying now..I can't stand to watch people cry. I never could. I have to turn my head away from her.. Sommers had gone pale at the large woman's news. I, of course had no idea who this Abby was. But I knew all about the Red Death..He was a murderer, a monster plaguing the town with fear, panic, and sorrow with each new victim, It's an unpleasant feeling to know that there was someone like that lurking in your hometown. "I'll..go..I'll just have my mom call you." I mutter to her, but she gives no response. With a sigh, I simply make my way by the psychiatrist and large secretary to exit the room. As I stepped through the waiting room, I can hear the news report playing on a small battery-powered television on the secretary's desk. Yet another victim has been claimed by the merciless killer known as the Red Death. 29 year old Abigail Sommers was last seen at her work last Monday ad had not been heard from since. Now police have found the young woman's body in the bushes of an apartment complex near her place of employment. It's a tragic sight for many this day, I pray for the family of this young woman.. I don't stay long enough to hear any more, news was always depressing. But now I understand the reason why Ms.Sommers had reacted like she had. I couldn't imagine it, having to hear that someone you know has been taken away by something so terrible. Now I feel bad about thinking all of those things about her.. As I think on the events of the past few months around town, the little voice in my head begins to whisper 'what ifs' in my subconscious. I hate that little voice, it's an evil little thing, whatever it really is. 'What if this had happened to someone around you?' How could I know right now? I can't even begin to know what i could be like! I feel a discomfort in my stomach as the thoughts grow louder and scream into the small crevices of my mind, talking at me more than to me. Maybe I am crazy... -- "I'm home." I look into the living room to see my dad first, sitting on the far side of the couch, arm around a pillow at his side like always. He turns his head to nod at me and I return a small, forced smile. Don't let him think anything's wrong. Don't give any signs. "How did it go?" he asks me. "It went well.." I lie," Uhm, Miss Somers had something to attend to before I could schedule my next appointment..so, I'll have to get Mom to call her later this week. Best give her a little time, though. She seemed really..busy." "Alright.." He nods, turning his head back to the tv in front of him once more. There was some sort of weapons showcase going on in another state that he'd been wanting to see. Best to let him watch it. I give him a light hug and a kiss on the cheek before heading to my bedroom, shutting the door behind me. With a heavy sigh my legs slowly but surely move me over to my bed and my face soon meets with the blue pillow atop purple sheets. As i lie there I miss the feeling I used to get from it. I used to love my bed, I used to feel safe and warm when lying there at night. But now the thought of sleeping in it startles my senses and makes my mind race once more. No, no..I shake my head to clear my mind as best I can. I can't keep thinking on it or it will certainly eat me whole. My hand reaches into my jacket pocket and finds its target with ease. My iPod, one of the few things that calm me anymore. I unravel the black and orange headphones from the encased device and place one in each ear. As I turn it on, my hand shakes. These nerves of mine are growing worse each day. Finally, it's on, now to find something. As always I choose the 'shuffle' option and let my eyes drift closed as the sound of piano and ambience begins to feel my ears. When darkness is no less '' '' than everything you've built become undone. '' ''There's no fight and no flight, '' '' disaster leaves your passion overrun. My breathing finally calmed as my body is following soon behind. It's almost a high that the music offers me, one I wish would last forever. I wish that the sound off the ambience and vocals could play every second of every day and send the ongoing nerves out of my body. Remembrance, can be a sentence, '' '' but it comes to you with a second chance in tow. '' Don't lose it, don't refuse it, '' cos you cannot learn a thing you think you know. I just wish it would all go away... ---- The music is gone...I must be asleep... Oh no.. But, wait, something is wrong..That usual scent of medicines and rust is gone..It's been replaced with another smell; a burning kind of stench, like if you'd just stuck a metal rod into a fire. "Where am I..?" I ask myself, halfheartedly hoping for some kind of answer. Someone, please answer me. I hear something,it's far away but it's getting closer. It's..slow and casual..Footsteps! I don't even know if I should be scared or relieved. The dream has changed! Could this be a sign?? Can these nightmares be withering? Can there be hope for my peace of mind? I truly hope so. In a desperate attempt to get an answer, I yell out. "Someone! Anyone!! Please, tell me what's going on!" It's then that I finally see something in the darkness; an odd orange glow moving in the rhythm of the footsteps still growing closer and louder. What is it?? Some sort of flashlight or maybe light from a sort of device? As it gets closer, my eyes try their best to focus on the glow, trying to figure out what this all could be. But, the footsteps..they're getting slower. The glow has vanished from my sight and the blackness wraps around me once more. "Shh, shh, baby..no need to be loud..." a voice..clear and smooth as if it were right..in front of me..that smell, that burning smell, it's much stronger now. In an attempt to move forward my body comes into contact with something else, or as it turns out as I feel a hand wrap around my arm, someone else.. "Who..who are you..? Tell me!" Now I'm angered from my confusion and panic. Everything around me has become heated as if I were standing inside of a furnace. The hand around my arm was the hottest, my skin burning under the mystery person's touch. "Heh...now, now..you know me." Another hand, i can feel it touch my shoulder for a short moment before sliding off and being replaced with something even warmer, sharper that tore into the material of my shirt and seemed to burn right through. It's then that I see the orange glow again where the burning sharpness had been. Hesitantly, I look down to gaze at what was there before me; what looked like a long claw. I feel myself pulled forward and a breath against my cheek, rasping and deep. "I'll see you soon, baby...It'll be beautiful to watch you'' burn''.." I feel the simmerning heat surrounding my body like a flame crawling inside of my veins, growing hotter and hotter after the sensations of that person's presence had disappeared completely. In an instant, a ring of fire surrounds me to illuminate a small, cramped room with no doors and no windows. There are just stone walls before me with writing on all four of them. On one, the word''' FEAR''' written in black, the words dripping from the bottom of each letter. On the next, the word''' HIDE', this time written in a white chalk. On another, the words '''FAMILY' and LOVE carved deep into the stone but both had been crossed through. My body slowly, slowly turns to see the last wall. The sight of it alone makes me feel like I cannot breathe, oxygen completely gone from my lungs. On it, written in fresh blood, shown the word DEATH.. Red...Death.. Like a hard punch to the chest, my body rises quickly off of the bed from shock. At first I feel myself choke on my own labored breathing which leads to a violent coughing fit. My whole body is covered in sweat, i notice, some of it dripping down my forehead slowly. As the coughing fit passes, i wipe the sweat from my face with the blanket covering me and begin to cry into the cloth. That had been worse than anything else before. Nothing had ever felt this real before, like it had actually happened. The blackout curtains in my room hide the true light from outside as I lift my head to scan my room. The clock at my dresser, however, signals the time to me; 7:30..wait--7:30?? Usually by this time I would be hearing my parents out in the living room moving around, or maybe in the kitchen making themselves some coffee, but the whole house was silent. It''s never this quiet...'' Something's wrong... ---- "Mom...? Dad...?" I knock on the door of my parent's room and lean my head onto it. Maybe it was just some weird instance where they'd actually slept in..? My fingers tap at the door once more," Guys, you in there?? Can I come in?" My other hand instinctually grips the door knob for a moment and turns it with an unexpected result, the door was unlocked; much unlike the norm. Dad always locked the door before bed every night.. "Hello..?" Nothing. Neither of them were there..What also set of a red flag in my head was he bed. If they had been up it would've been been made..dad never leaves his room in the morning before making his bed...Now my first fears were true, something was definitely wrong. As I take a few steps into the room, I hear a crinkling noise below my feet and feel something shifting atop the carpet. My sight quickly turns to the ground and I notice something below my feet; an envelope. I lean down to pick the envelope from the floor, hearing the cracking of my stressed limbs as every morning. There is nothing written on the envelope itself, but I can see a darker sheet of paper placed inside of it. The enclosed paper was glossy and engraved at the borders and neatly, almost perfectly folded, I toss the envelope to the side and unfold the paper to see calligraphy written all over the page that read; Britny Stewart, You have been invited to attend an extravagant Masquerade ball at Prospero Castle on October 31st. This ball will be unlike any other in history and will be a deciding point for your life. Should you refuse, you shall undoubtedly regret your actions. Signed, Red Death The last two words had been written in a grisly way, jagged and scratchy across the paper. My heart felt as if it would stop at any moment. This couldn't be happening..this had to be some sort of mistake, maybe some sick joke, anything! As i read over it once more, my eyes found more writing at the very bottom of the page.. P.S; Your answering machine should stand true to it's name. Make sure not to overlook what's right in front of you.... I didn't even hesitate. My feet immediately moved into a sprint as I made my way impatiently into the empty living room. My hands fumbled with the phone to check its history and find an unfamiliar number. To my horror everything had been erased and all that shown was the orange glow of the screen. In a fit of panicked rage, I flung the phone across the room. it was an ill attempt, for it safely landed between the cushions of the couch. My hands grabbed the answering machine now, the small machine was blinking in the corner; 01. I pressed the 'check' button on it and sat it back down, awaiting the electronic voice that would be followed by said message. You have one new message. Message one. ~''beeeep~ ''Something seem amiss, baby? Heh, I'm sure it is...if you're listening to this it means you got my little invitation. Good~. Now I bet you're wondering what's going on, right? Well, being the generous man I am, I'll tell you. With me now are the people you cherish the most in your life..Sweet folks, I gotta say..The only way I'll ever let you see them again is if you attend my masquerade. Why? well, I have my own reasons for that and they're none of your business. If you look to your right, behind the subwoofer on the floor, you should see a package. Go on and open it, I promise it won't bite. It's simply a gift from me to you, I hope to see you in it at the ball. I just know you'll look beautiful in black... Now, baby, you might want to get yourself ready. With that wrecked little mind of yours, I'm sure you didn't notice the date... Don't worry about transportation...that's all taken care of... I'll see you tonight... '' '' !beeeeeeeeep~ Message recieved. Losing all control of my body, I fall to my knees, head hanging. This wasn't a bad dream. It wasn't a joke. This was real and it was happening to me. But why? and..how?? This moment right now was making me wish that those old nightmares had been all that I'd ever had to worry about. "The package!" I gasped, my head shooting up to turn to the right of me. There behind the silver subwoofer sat a package; a white box covered in engravings wrapped in a red silk bow. I reach for it and place it atop the subwoofer, turning my whole body to raise myself up onto my knees. The ribbon took no effort to pull out of it's bow it'd been tied into, a simple tug and it all came undone. now for the boxtop. It was thin and smooth on the sides that my fingers ran against it. As I lifted the top, I could see the large contents of the box that made my heart drop into my stomach. There in front of me stood a black beaded and painted masquerade mask lying atop a black dress with the same designs, perfect curved purple designs sitting atop the dark materials of the gown. As sick as it all was, the beautiful dress before me made it all even worse. It was gorgeous, the most perfect dress I'd ever seen in my life. One hand runs over the soft materials, a tinge of regret filling me as I both fear and admire it. One of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen in my life and I'd received it from a monster. It's all disgusting. I have to turn my head away from it and clear my thoughts; I need a plan. Now. He had my mom..my dad...I can't go on without them. I have to save them, no matter how scared I was. ---- Looking down at the dress that now laid atop my bed, I gave a sigh. This was it. It had been almost nine hours since all of this had started and even though my exterior looked calm and collected I was truly nothing but a coward underneath it all. But in this moment I came to a sort of conclusion with myself. What was I most scared of..? Dying tonight or failing to save my parents? I had no answer. Trying to calm myself down, I begin to hum a melody. Both haunting and beautiful, it was the only thing I had right now in this empty house. I had no consolation from another human being; I refused to tell anyone else about this. It would most likely involve them as well by the end of the night and I could never live with myself if that were to happen. My hair was done, put up in a way I'd never had it in before. I was never one to 'dress up', so this was nothing like I'd ever even tried to do. No one but my parents had ever seen me in a dress and that was years upon years ago. I was even wearing makeup that I had to borrow from my mom's bag in the bathroom. As I was applying it I had to stop myself from crying; all of the makeup smelled like her... "How do I look...?" I asked the silence of the house, knowing it was stupid to ask with no response expected. But still, I couldn't help it. it had just come out on its own. The dress truly was beautiful, but I felt sick just by wearing it. The arm-length gloves that it had come with were soft, but felt like a thousand needles pricking me. This was so..wrong.. God help me..help me through this night.. Silent prayers...my dad had always taught me to say them whenever I was scared. Save us from this... Now for the last of it all; the mask. It sat upon the small table in the hallway that connected all of the rooms in the house just waiting for me. I picked it up to just stare at it for a moment. It had been handmade, I could tell by the detailing and the stitching of the soft materials. This in itself would hold my place at the masquerade ball. Taking a deep breath, I place the mask on my face and clip the sides into my hair. Once it was on I looked at myself in the hallway mirror only to frown at the image before my eyes. It's not me..It's not me. A loud honk from outside made my whole body jolt in shock before turning and making my way to open the front door. Out in front of the yard sat a black car, all of its windows completely black as well, making it impossible to see who was driving it. This was obviously how I was going to be getting to Prospero. I signaled for the driver to give me a moment though I wasn't even sure if he'd seen me. I had to get something to take with me before I left. In my bedroom was a small picture of my parents that I could easily hide in the upper folds of my dress. I couldn't leave without first grabbing it. I bit my lip as I stared at their smiling faces; I missed them so much. With a small kiss to the photograph, I hid it in my dress and returned to the door to lock up the house before making my way to the vehicle. Mom..Dad.....please be okay...I'll be coming for you...I promise....